Sullivan's new look Leatherhead squad begins to take shape

MICK Sullivan's rebuilding work at Leatherhead has begun.

The newly appointed Tanners' manager has confirmed five new signings, four of whom follow Sullivan from former club Merstham.

Defender Chris Boulter, striker Kwabena Agyei and midfielder Michael Morgan have joined Sullivan at Fetcham Grove, as well as Mark Simmons who comes on board as player coach. Goalkeeper Craig Bradshaw has also joined from Walton Casuals.

Sullivan accepted the vacant Leatherhead hot seat two weeks ago, following Bob Langford's resignation towards the end of the Tanners' disappointing Ryman League Division One South season.

Despite the influx of new blood, Sullivan insists he's keen to give all of Leatherhead's squad from last season a fair crack of the whip and hopes most, if not all, will reconvene at Fetcham Grove when pre-season begins on June 30.

"Those five have been confirmed and I'm sure they'll be one or two more new faces down there when we start pre-season, but everyone will get a fair chance to get into that first team," confirmed Sullivan.

"I've either met or spoken on the phone to pretty much everyone from last season now and the feedback has been really positive.

"It would be silly of me not to give these guys an opportunity without having a proper look at them first."

One man Sullivan is definitely keen to keep hold of is Leatherhead's club captain Iain Hendry.

The 27-year-old centre back celebrated 10 years as a Tanner with a testimonial match against an Arsenal Celebrity XI at the weekend and Sullivan took the opportunity to get down to the club and meet many of the faces he will be working with next season.

"It was great day and there was a fantastic atmosphere down at the ground," said Sullivan. "It was a good opportunity to have a chat with Henders. It's all looking good at the moment and I'm looking forward to getting started."

Sullivan also confirmed that Barry Peacock will be his assistant manager after it was decided that Kim Harris, who was originally announced in the role, would look for a number one position elsewhere.

"I had a chat with Kim and it was agreed by mutual consent that he would be better off as a number one, and it seems like he might have got the job at Corinthian Casuals," said Sullivan. "We're still good friends and I look forward to coming up against him next season.

"I've brought Barry in as my assistant and Mark Simmons will be player coach.

"John Heath and Peter Thompson will run the reserves and we are going to run an U18s side in the Ryman League too.

"The idea is to all work together and create a big pool of players to choose from, a little like we did at Merstham."